"Hole-in-the-wall" shop:
www.speedhunters.com/2013/10/tokyo-legend-re-amemiya/

 

I only tun'm when the manufacturer does a lousy job. Take my short lived (run over by a pickup) 2012 XK. Ran like crap stock at 385 ridiculously rich HP so it could survive on Indian junk gas. Properly tuned to 415 HP (BTW same as a stock Mustang (same motor))it was MUCH smoother, and got 3mpg better highway mileage!! ETG does not do snake oil. The future owner , in some 3rd world country where it probably sent to be rebuilt has themselves a sweet runner!
You want cherry, buy new and take care of it, or rebuild it as needed.. I want cherry, I buy new, take good care of it, and usually say goodbye by ~10 years before the ravages of age take over. Let the next owner, service, upgrade, rebuild etc as they want it. No, I do not neglect my cars BTW but they do get used!

 

LOL! I love the excuses the harebrained 'Tuners' give to their equally spry customers. Yes Jaguar's design criteria was to sell $100k cars to poor Indians and as a bonus reduce their gas mileage. I hear the Indian govt reciprocated with roads made for grand tourers. Yep it must be the reason for throwing extra gas in the engine and nothing to do with overcoming direct injection problems.

Here's a business idea for them, they can sell special K&N fuel filters to the millions of jaguar sports cars sold in third world countries.

 

Dave

 

And no the Mustang does not have the same motor as Jaguar.
Who are these friends of yours.
Ford did however license the CTA cam torque actuated design from Jaguar.

 

And the UK Ford plant produces the Jaguar Engines (to Jag specs).

 

As one of the poorer members of the forum, I'll be the one who finally buys an F-type when they've reached full depreciation. As a restorer of vintage cars, I'll probably get one that needs quite a bit of work. Some modifications I don't mind as the kind of people who modify their cars are usually enthusiasts and tend to take better care of them. I'd rather start with a nice modded car than a neglected stock one.

What I won't buy however are highly personalized modifications that would be difficult to "undo". If you want to modify your car and sell it to someone like me later for the highest possible price, don't cut or drill holes, don't paint parts that aren't supposed to be painted, don't re-paint parts in custom colors and the biggie, don't discard or sell any of the factory original parts, but rather box them up and store them safely so that I can put them back on. If you must modify a part in a permanent manner, save the original and buy a used part from a wrecked car to hack up. It'll be a lot easier to find an extra part now than it will be in 20 years.

Oh, and lastly, whatever you do, DON'T apply any of those wax or tar-based rustproofing products to any future collectible. After restoring a Ziebarted car once, and trying to remove all that crap, I'd rather just pay a couple grand more for a clean, unmolested car to start with. Get an old beater Subaru for winter duties and clean your undercarriage once in a while. Let me know what you got in about 20 years.

 

These are the exact rules I live by when I make the substantial modifications on my cars. Unfortunately, it means having a massive collection of OEM parts carefully wrapped and labeled in the attic.

 

Misleading to say that. Jaguar produces its own engines in its own plant that happens to be inside the Ford complex. Its gone next Year. Further underscoring that Ford does nothing more than provide space. The mustang motor is made in Canada.

 

Let give you something then, if you buy a F-type when it reaches full depreciation, you will be buying the most expensive car you can. What you are saying is that you want to buy it when the maximum number of components need to be replaced. On this car the final ownership will be the most expensive.

Typically a Jaguar owner will pay 12k in annual depreciation. You will easily be spending that annually for a car that gives half the joy, as all the skeletons will start coming out of the closet. How many of these 'modders' do you think even care to change the transmission fluid after cooking it. Worse everything on this car is 3x cost of jaguars of before. Guess how much for the headlight assembly? The only saving grace is that it would not have been driven as an uber taxi.

 

I don't buy the ones that have been beat to hell. I buy the ones that have been well cared for and low miles, but not so low that they sat unused for months or years at a time. While I've done a few full restorations (I do everything except final paint), I more typically just get a nice car at a good deal and fix a few minor things. There's very few circumstances in which one can do a full restoration and come out ahead, even if you get the car for free. Better to overpay for a nice example. But I enjoy my projects a few years, driving them to car shows, maybe 1000-1500 miles annually as the values are on the upswing. Plus, at the point they are "antique", agreed value insurance costs almost nothing and I can afford to have two or three $20-$25K cars at a time as opposed to one $80K car.

 

Pretty much what I do as well. I have 5 cars that I regularly drive, only 2 of them are new.

 

Very true. "Few circumstances" are one-in-a-million barn finds of something truly unique. If it auctions under $250,000 it doesn't make financial sense to do such restoration.

For example, people frequently do Mustang restorations. They all lose money doing so. So if you want to drive one, the most economical way to get one is on estate sale. Reputable restorers primarily make money working on orders.

 

I agree with you except in my experience (albeit older cars), low mileage trumps all and a car that has been stored properly for years or even decades is far better than one that has been in use all that time. I've had several low mileage collectibles and though they may have needed minor repairs/maintenance to get them road worth after decades of storage, they were in FAR better shape for having been put away. A friend of mine owned a 1971 Hemi 'Cuda with 2000 miles on it; nicest unmolested original car I've ever seen.

1971 Plymouth 'Cuda For Sale | Collector and Classic Cars For Sale | RK Motors Charlotte

2 cents,
Dave

 

It really pains me to see examples like this. Just imagine all the hours of fun that were never had with this car. Garage queens are a waste of good iron or aluminum.

 

I understand the sentiment; but he has more than enough cars to drive and enjoys his very large collection of special cars and memorabilia, sharing with others that have the same passion. He has lots of reasonably cool cars to drive; he was driving an NSX last time I was there. At some point the car in question passed from something you could reasonably drive and enjoy to a time capsule example worth 1000X more than it originally sold for.

....If I recall correctly, he told me he hadn't actually sat in that car, much less driven it.

If I owned it, I would drive it .....very sparingly but honestly, it's past the point where driving it too much makes sense.

I spent a ton of money and over 10 years restoring this car and while it was certainly well kept, I used it as it was meant to be used every time I got in it. Sorry for the poor quality video but it's the only one I have... skip past the first minute.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ofma0go-jJk

I recently sold it because I wanted something that I was more comfortable with using and driving more.

Cheers,
Dave

 

HOLY CRAP!!! :icon_banan a:

 

I can't often afford those ultra-low mileage cars that were stored correctly for 20+ years, plus, I kinda feel like those need to be just put in a museum/collection and left as they are. I understand how some people can feel its a shame not to get it out and drive it, but I need a few to be museum pieces as a reference so that I can put the one I'm working on back the way its supposed to be. In a way, preserving a few like that is in fact supporting the rest of the hobby with critical documentation. I'm glad there are a few collectors out there who just enjoy looking at them. Plus mine may not ultimately be driven much but its gonna be driven in city traffic by default. Insurance coverage aside, I'd suffer mental breakdown if I wrecked an irreplaceable piece of automotive history.

 

Likely the most inappropriate thing I have posted on the internet in 30 years, as far as "classy" goes. But I saw this, this weekend, and immediately thought of this old thread.

 

Im going to suck every bit of life out of my F, then leave her spent, on side of the road, a mere skeleton. She will just sit there, waiting for the grim reaper tow truck to drag her to her final resting place.

There will be no one coming after me having sex with my car, I assure you.